Pages

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Short devotion - Really Good News - Acts 13:38

Acts 13:38 “Therefore,
my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you.”

We all do things that we later regret.
We all make mistakes that can’t be rectified. Each of us lives with guilt on
our consciences and shame in our hearts. We are human and fallible, prone to
failure and imperfection. It’s a sad and sinful part of who we are; none of us
are perfect and not one of us is free from sin.

Left to ourselves, we would have no
opportunity of being reconciled to a holy, sacred, sinless, and perfect God.
The great fact of history is this: we are not left to ourselves.
Through Jesus, we can be forgiven; by Christ, we can be reconciled to God.

Some people talk about the Church as
being outdated, old-fashioned, and irrelevant, but so long as people are
selfish, sinful, and foolish, the Church will never become irrelevant. Every
day, hundreds of thousands of people across the world discover Jesus as their
Savior. Every night, billions of people ask for forgiveness and seek His favor.
In the eternal scheme of things, the world is already outdated and will become
old-fashioned and irrelevant beyond the gates of Heaven.

With Jesus as our gracious Savior, today
is the continuing first day in the rest of our eternal lives. That’s what I
call really
good news – now let’s go out and share it with other people…J

Questions for personal reflection

What has been
the gravest mistake of my life? How has Jesus forgiven me?

P

rayer:Lord Jesus, You are the Savior of
the world and the Holy One to whom we belong. Our past mistakes are completely
forgiven. Our future hopes rest in Your Kingdom. Help us to share the goodness
of Your love and forgiveness to others around us. In Your Holy Name, we
thankfully pray. Amen.

John
Stuart is the pastor of Erin
Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to ask
questions or make comments about today’s message, please send him an email to traqair@aol.com.